7 The Drastic Elastic

Chapter 7 THE DRASTIC ELASTIC "What are you wearing today?" asked Uncle Al. "Well, urn, I'm wearing my blue shorts and that great safari shirt you gave me," said Andrew. "The one with all the pockets." "Perfect!" said Uncle Al. "Remember, Andrew, most answers are in your head or in your pockets —sometimes both! When I gave you that shirt, I put a surprise in a secret pocket. It's under the left side of your collar. It's a new thing I've been working on. The Drastic…" Suddenly Uncle Al's voice faded away. So did the rest of Uncle Al!

Andrew checked his collar. There was a little zipper on the left side. He unzipped it and found a tiny pocket. But there was nothing there! Then Andrew remembered that Uncle Al, smart as he was, sometimes got left and right mixed up. So Andrew checked the right side of his collar. There was another secret pocket. This time there was something in it. It felt like a tiny, squooshy lump. Andrew unzipped the pocket and took it out. It looked like a piece of rubber band with a tiny cup at each end. There was a tag attached to it. It said THE DRASTIC ELASTIC, VERSION 1.1. meep… "Let go of end," said Thudd. Andrew held one end of the Drastic Elastic and let go of the other end. It fell through the grating of the middle shelf and stretched all the way to the bottom of the refrigerator! "Wowzers schnauzers!" yelled Andrew. "This is the stretchiest thing I've ever seen!" Andrew tried to pull the end back up, but the Drastic Elastic just seemed to get longer and

longer. meep… "Yank, Drewd!" said Thudd. "Like yoyo!" Andrew yanked the end of the Drastic Elastic. The other end came whizzing back! "Jumping gerbils!" said Andrew. Andrew tied one end of the Drastic Elastic around Thudd. "Okay!" said Andrew. "I'll get you down to the butter, Thudd. You grab a big hunk. Then I'll snap you back and get you buttered!" "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. Thudd jumped off the tomato and whizzed down to the bottom shelf. He landed in the bowl of eggs.

"Are you okay, Thudd?" Andrew called down. But Thudd couldn't hear him. His voice was too tiny to hear from so far away. Then Andrew remembered the little cups at the ends of the Drastic Elastic. He held his cup to his

mouth. "Hey, Thudd!" he said. "Can you hear me?" Down below, Thudd spoke into his end. "Yoop, Drewd!" "Thudd, I'll try to swing you off the eggs and onto the butter," said Andrew. meep… "Know why egg not round like ball?" asked Thudd. "Thudd, it's not a good time to start explaining stuff," said Andrew. "We've got to get you buttered up. And then we've got to rescue Judy." meep… "If egg round, egg roll away easy," Thudd continued. "Egg get broke. Get lost. Ovalshape egg not roll away easy." "Thudd, I'm going to pull you off those eggs right now," said Andrew. "Get ready!" meep… "Eggshell got little holes!" said Thudd, beaming a picture up to Andrew. "When egg got chick inside, chick get air!"

"Enough of that, Thudd!" said Andrew. Andrew tugged Thudd off the eggs and tried to swing him onto the butter. But Thudd landed on the half-eaten sandwich and tumbled into a deep bread crater. meep… "Bread got lotsa holes like moon," said Thudd. "Hole in moon made by meteor. Hole in bread made by little yeast things. Live in bread dough." Thudd beamed Andrew a picture of yeast.